Letters to the editor 4/26

Obama has blank check to change America

President Barack Obama, the Fast and Furious gunrunner, cynically exploits the massacred Sandy Hook children and their families. His gun-control hysterics distract from the mind-altering drugs that were involved in nearly every school shooting. His distraction protects his pharmaceutical drug-pushing pals from accountability.

His demand for background checks can readily be abused for future gun confiscation. Obama the lawbreaker threatens law-abiding gun owners. It's Obama who hid his own background and his lack of credentials to be president.

Homeland Security is buying almost 2 billion bullets while refusing to divulge their purpose. Homeland Security assembled thousands of domestic military personnel while buying rifles, armored vehicles and drones plus opening new detention centers in various states. This was done with no explanation or accountability.

Data is being collected on virtually every American along with extensive monitoring of our private electronic communications. This is illegal.

Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act enabling him to declare a national emergency with the power to bypass the Constitution, seize control over energy, food, water, police, communications, banking, etc. Bypassing Senate hearings, Obama installed appointees in every major U.S. agency who now report only to him. Obama is deliberately instigating the crisis he can then exploit to declare a national emergency.

Obama is destroying our economy, which can lead to desperation and riots. He has assembled the domestic military means to put down any rebellion and the legal authority to act unilaterally. We blindly gave him a blank check to change America.

Bertram Cohen

Poughkeepsie

Amphibians indicate health of environment

With spring now here, we will soon enjoy some of life's simple pleasures such as the chorus of spring peepers in a wet meadow or the throaty serenade of a wetland bullfrog. Or will we? Sadly, these pleasures may become a thing of the past. Amphibians are declining worldwide, the reasons ranging from habitat destruction and global warming to pesticide pollution.

Like the canary in the mine, wetland amphibians are bio-indicators of the health of our environment, and the prognosis is alarming. The weed killer, Atrazine, is the 21st century's DDT. The European Union banned it in 2004, but the United States uses more than 80 million pounds annually on food crops, Christmas trees, and lawn care. Frogs exposed to downstream runoff show impaired immune systems, deformed limbs, increased disease, and chemical castration that turns male frogs into females.

Tadpoles keep waterways clean by feeding on algae. Adult frogs eat large quantities of insects, including disease vectors that transmit illnesses to humans. The disappearance of even a single species produces negative effects that cascade throughout the entire ecosystem and is a warning we cannot ignore. Why wait for the effects of pesticides to appear in our children and grandchildren?

For further information, please contact Dutchess County's Cooperative Extension or Soil & Water Conservation District or visit www.savethefrogs.com.

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave," says a Dakota Indian proverb.

Geneva Claire Hamilton

Beekman

Student production felt like a Broadway show

On Friday, April 12, I had the great honor of seeing "West Side Story," one of the best if not the best high school musical around. I work in the Arlington High School cafeteria, and I see these kids every day. I did not know how talented they were. Coming in every day to buy their lunch, you can't really get a feel of what they are capable of on stage. The whole cast were not only great singers but also great dancers. The choreography was down pat, and I felt like I was watching a Broadway show. My co-workers and I got a kick out of seeing them on stage. The next school day all we did was congratulate them when they came in to eat. Again I want to give a "bravo!" not only to the cast, crew, but to all who were involved. Now that's entertainment!

Diana Moran

Salt Point

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Letters to the editor 4/26

President Barack Obama, the Fast and Furious gunrunner, cynically exploits the massacred Sandy Hook children and their families. His gun-control hysterics distract from the mind-altering drugs that

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